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PayPal could be banned from blocking accounts for political reasons

32 points by timthorn 4y ago

type_Ben_struct 4y ago
Without Paywall: https://archive.ph/LvblX https://archive.ph/LvblX
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
guilhas 4y ago
I was against most of the bans, but I don't like government interfering too much. As the real danger would be governments deciding that certain accounts should be banned. And in many cases government supported pressure groups are already involved in those bans If we look at the truckers convoy in Canada, the government in power can just call the protesters terrorists and then what does PayPal do? They should not steal the funds of those accounts; They should possibly pay compensation to the account holders they block The best solution is the appearance of new apps aligned differently politically. For example YouTube is slowly destroying their monopoly by banning videos, people now immediately double upload into 2 or more platforms, making other platforms popular, Bitchute, Odyssey, Rumble, Newtube, Peertube...
Arnt 4y ago
This sounds like a story I've heard several times in Germany. It goes like this: ① Someone like that Free Speech Union does something that is perhaps forbidden for you and me, but they're doing it for noble political reasons and somehow avoid prosecution. ② Someone else pushes through a rule change, either to allow the forbidden thing when done for political reasons, or to prevent it being done by e.g. blocking funding to related organisations. This is where the Telegraph is now. The next step, not anticipated by the Telegraph: ③ People of the wrong political shade leverage the rule change to effect exactly the opposite of what was intended.
- timthorn 4y ago
  Not sure about your step 1. No one has claimed that the FSU has done anything illegal, let alone called for a prosecution.
  - cloutchaser 4y ago
    They offer financial and legal assistance to people who are deplatformed. Apparently that is already borderline or fully illegal in many people's eyes these days. Baffles the mind that no trial, no defence, instant punishment is literally what people are calling for in the west.
    - inglor_cz 4y ago
      Westerners are not magically immune from autocratic thinking, our comon history is full of various tyrannies. There is a lot of ruin in any nation. Plus, the degraded intellectual environment of the social networks is a rich soil for various pathologies. One of our current problems is that a lot of such pathologies flourish on universities of all places. The very institutions that should cultivate critical thinking are sliding towards enforced conformity instead. Who is going to take up their abandoned task?
    - Arnt 4y ago
      AOL. People are calling for lawyers to lose their license even when those lawyers work according to the taxi rank principle. Incomprehensible to me.
dijonman2 4y ago
“When intelligent people affiliate themselves to ideology, their intellect ceases to guard against wishful thinking, and instead begins to fortify it, causing them to inadvertently mastermind their own delusion, and to very cleverly become stupid.” — Gurwinder Bhogal
abigail95 4y ago
If governments create such onerous rules for participation in "regular society", then it should also ensure equal access. There is so much regulation in financial services that only extra large players, $10,000,000,000+, are allowed to compete without someone elses permission. It would be illegal for the FSU to accept payments without involving someone like Paypal. Not just hard - illegal, like go directly to jail, do not pass go. A small organisation cannot meet the compliance requirements. If the government passes a law like "Payment Services Regulations", that privileges large incumbent players, they need to include a non-discrimination clause. If everyone can start a micro-bank, you don't care if Paypal blocks you. The fact that paypal can harm someone by terminating their account means the existing environment is non-competitive.
anm89 4y ago
Paypal should be banned from holding money.

32 points by timthorn 4y ago

type_Ben_struct 4y ago

Without Paywall: https://archive.ph/LvblX https://archive.ph/LvblX

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

guilhas 4y ago

I was against most of the bans, but I don't like government interfering too much. As the real danger would be governments deciding that certain accounts should be banned. And in many cases government supported pressure groups are already involved in those bans If we look at the truckers convoy in Canada, the government in power can just call the protesters terrorists and then what does PayPal do? They should not steal the funds of those accounts; They should possibly pay compensation to the account holders they block The best solution is the appearance of new apps aligned differently politically. For example YouTube is slowly destroying their monopoly by banning videos, people now immediately double upload into 2 or more platforms, making other platforms popular, Bitchute, Odyssey, Rumble, Newtube, Peertube...

Arnt 4y ago

This sounds like a story I've heard several times in Germany. It goes like this: ① Someone like that Free Speech Union does something that is perhaps forbidden for you and me, but they're doing it for noble political reasons and somehow avoid prosecution. ② Someone else pushes through a rule change, either to allow the forbidden thing when done for political reasons, or to prevent it being done by e.g. blocking funding to related organisations. This is where the Telegraph is now. The next step, not anticipated by the Telegraph: ③ People of the wrong political shade leverage the rule change to effect exactly the opposite of what was intended.

timthorn 4y ago
Not sure about your step 1. No one has claimed that the FSU has done anything illegal, let alone called for a prosecution.
- cloutchaser 4y ago
  They offer financial and legal assistance to people who are deplatformed. Apparently that is already borderline or fully illegal in many people's eyes these days. Baffles the mind that no trial, no defence, instant punishment is literally what people are calling for in the west.
  - inglor_cz 4y ago
    Westerners are not magically immune from autocratic thinking, our comon history is full of various tyrannies. There is a lot of ruin in any nation. Plus, the degraded intellectual environment of the social networks is a rich soil for various pathologies. One of our current problems is that a lot of such pathologies flourish on universities of all places. The very institutions that should cultivate critical thinking are sliding towards enforced conformity instead. Who is going to take up their abandoned task?
  - Arnt 4y ago
    AOL. People are calling for lawyers to lose their license even when those lawyers work according to the taxi rank principle. Incomprehensible to me.

dijonman2 4y ago

“When intelligent people affiliate themselves to ideology, their intellect ceases to guard against wishful thinking, and instead begins to fortify it, causing them to inadvertently mastermind their own delusion, and to very cleverly become stupid.” — Gurwinder Bhogal

abigail95 4y ago

If governments create such onerous rules for participation in "regular society", then it should also ensure equal access. There is so much regulation in financial services that only extra large players, $10,000,000,000+, are allowed to compete without someone elses permission. It would be illegal for the FSU to accept payments without involving someone like Paypal. Not just hard - illegal, like go directly to jail, do not pass go. A small organisation cannot meet the compliance requirements. If the government passes a law like "Payment Services Regulations", that privileges large incumbent players, they need to include a non-discrimination clause. If everyone can start a micro-bank, you don't care if Paypal blocks you. The fact that paypal can harm someone by terminating their account means the existing environment is non-competitive.

anm89 4y ago

Paypal should be banned from holding money.